Southern California -- this just in

Quarry gunman died of self-inflicted wound, coroner says

October 12, 2011 | 11:28
am

The disgruntled Cupertino quarry worker who shot 10 people last week, killing three, and then eluded law enforcement for 27 hours during a massive manhunt died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office.

Shareef Allman was spotted Thursday morning by Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies as he crouched behind a car on a residential Sunnyvale street. Deputies opened fire on him after he displayed a gun "in a threatening manner," Sheriff Laurie Smith told reporters after the shooting. Local TV reporters counted more than two dozen shell casings at the scene.

But in a briefing Tuesday, Capt. Kevin Jensen, an administrative coroner, said Allman's autopsy revealed that while he was wounded by deputies, the shot to the head that proved fatal was self-inflicted.

The 49-year-old Allman opened fire on coworkers before dawn last Wednesday during a routine safety meeting at the Lehigh Southwest Cement Permanente plant in Cupertino. Killed were John Vallejos, 51, and Mark Munoz, 59, both of San Jose, and Manuel Guadalupe Pinon, 48, of Newman. Six workers were injured at the plant; Allman is believed to have later shot and wounded a Hewlett-Packard contract worker in a carjacking attempt.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Terry Bowman, an attorney for the three deputies who fired at Allman, said her clients told her that he made no attempt to surrender, uttered a suicidal comment and pointed the gun at one of the deputies.

They, along with other law enforcement officials, were not aware that Allman had shot himself, Bowman said.